The hospital will implement new systems for medical records, accounting
BANDON – Southern Coos Hospital & Health Center is embarking on a major project to convert its medical records and accounting software to new state-of-the-art systems.
After a year of vetting medical record providers and identifying and securing funding resources, SCHHC has contracted with Sage to implement its new accounting system Intacct, and with Epic Community Connect, hosted by Providence Health Systems, to implement its new electronic health records platform.
The change will offer increased operability and portability of medical records, and drastically improve quality measure tracking and reporting capabilities, according to SCHHC CEO Raymond Hino.
“This is a major investment by Southern Coos Hospital & Health Center to improve the overall health of every person we serve,” Hino said.
The project is likely the biggest expenditure that SCHHC will make in the next 10 years, outside of expansion and replacement of the hospital itself, Hino explained.
With the new Epic electronic health record (EHR) system, SCHHC will join 70 percent of Oregon hospitals on the same computerized health record platform. Epic is also the number one EHR system in the United States, used by 28 percent of hospitals nationwide.
“What this means for our patients is that following the full conversion of our system to the Epic platform by the end of this year, your hospital records will be easily accessible by doctors, hospitals and healthcare providers almost anywhere you go. We expect that this will result in a faster diagnosis and improved outcomes,” Hino said.
Doctors at Southern Coos Hospital will benefit as well, Hino added.
“It is likely that the new system will allow our providers to work more efficiently, which means they will be able to see more patients per day than they are able to see at the present time,” he said.
SCHHC CIO Scott McEachern and CFO Antone Eek are co-executive sponsors of the project.
“By implementing Sage/Intacct, we will be able to streamline financial statements, asset tracking, and project management,” McEachern said. “The Epic Community Connect electronic health record will significantly improve patient outcomes throughout the southern Oregon coast and will bring healthcare into the 21st century for our community.”
SCHHC plans to implement the Sage Intacct new accounting system in October, while the Providence Epic EHR is expected to go live in mid-December.
Prior to that, SCHHC staff will train on the new systems with the help of an implementation team engaged to ensure overall readiness.
“We are excited to be bringing, in our opinion, the best electronic record keeping system in the United States, if not the world, to our patients in Bandon, Oregon,” Hino said.
About SCHHC
Southern Coos Hospital & Health Center is a 21-bed critical access hospital on the Oregon coast serving Coos and Curry counties, offering 24-hour emergency care, surgical services, radiology, an on-site clinical laboratory, respiratory therapy, and primary and ancillary care through its specialty clinic.
SCHHC is celebrating its 25th anniversary in the current facility, which was dedicated on Sept. 9, 1999. Southern Coos Hospital has served the South Coast community continually since 1955 when the Southern Coos Health District was established.